Sword Art Online- Memorial of a Swordsman
by WaterfallMan
Summary: It has been two months since the launch of the Death Game; Sword Art Online. Two young men, Kirito and Trance, attempt to survive the game and to defeat the Final Boss waiting for them atop the Hundredth Floor of the Iron Castle: Aincrad. This is their Story. (Formerly titled "The Swordsmen of Aincrad")
1. Trance

Chapter 1

"Did you hear? Some guy named Diavel is planning to take on the first floor boss!"  
Excited murmurings surrounded the player known as Trance as he wove through the crowds.  
He, like many other high level players, had been called to this town to discuss assaulting the floor boss. He wore a blue and grey coat that almost covered the gleam of his breastplate, subconsciously, he tapped the dagger that was strapped to his side and ran his fingers along the scabbard on his back. He found a gathering of players, all higher level than those he had seen on his way in. _This must be the place!_  
He entered the amphitheatre, observing to see any of his friends from the beta were in the crowd.  
His eyes fell upon a boy who sat alone, he ran his hands through his raven hair, and adjusted the Anneal Blade that was strapped to his back. His features were softer than his avatar in the beta, gentler. But his disinterested stance told him exactly who it was.

"Kirito?"  
Trance approached the boy, who looked up at him warily.  
"Do I know you?"  
Kirito studied him, then his eyes fell upon the blue and grey coat, a quest reward for defeating a relatively difficult boss. Recognition flooded his eyes.  
"Trance? Is that you?" He asked.  
Trance grinned.  
"Yep."  
Kirito grinned back,  
"I should have known, you were obsessed with getting that coat in the beta, Should have figured you would go straight for that quest."  
Trance chuckled softly,  
"Of course I would, this coat is stylish _and_ gives me a sweet buff to boot!"  
Kirito smiled, then turned his attention to the centre of the amphitheatre,  
"So this is really happening, huh?"  
Trance took a seat next to him.  
"Seems like it, you remember how hard it was to beat in the beta?"  
"Yeah, Illfang wiped the floor with us the first time."  
Kirito's face darkened.  
"We need to be more careful this time." He muttered.

"Alright, looks like most of us are here!" an enthusiastic voice echoed throughout the amphitheatre, a man walked onto the centre stage. His dull grey armour clashed with his turquoise hair. Something about his confident smile seemed… Familiar to Trance.  
"Hey, does he seem familiar to you?" Trane gently nudged Kirito, who squinted at the blue haired man.  
"I don't think so." Kirito said.

"How is everyone doing? My name is Diavel and in SAO, my class is a knight!" the blue haired man proclaimed, placing a hand on his chest.  
His statement was met with snorts of derision.  
"There are no classes in SAO!"  
"Get over yourself! A knight?"  
Diavel held out his hands calmly,  
"Well, maybe not, but I like to think of myself as one."  
Diavel coughed awkwardly and continued.  
"Anyway, no-ones challenged the floor boss yet, but I think now everyone assembled here today is at a high enough level to challenge Illfang the Kobold Lord and defeat him!"  
Murmuring rippled throughout the amphitheatre, from somewhere to Trance's right, a player spoke up.  
"Do you have a plan?"

Diavel held up a small leather-bound book,  
"I'm sure everyone has read this book?"  
Murmurs of assent bubbled from the crowd.  
"Right, well, this guide details how to get past the first ten floors of Aincrad, for Illfang the strategy the Beta Testers suggest we use is-"

"Hold up! Beta Testers?!" An aggressive, vaguely annoying voice called out, then a scruffy looking man with yellow-brown hair scrambled towards the stage.  
"And who are you?" Diavel sighed,  
"The name's Kibaou! And I've got a bone to pick with these Beta Testers!"  
He glared into the crowd, searching. Next to Trance, Kirito stiffened slightly, Trance himself found himself subconsciously reaching for his dagger.  
Kibaou gave up searching and scoffed, "Those Beta Testers stole the best grinding spots, took the rarest drops and left us to scrounge around for anything we could find! Those two thousand players that died? That's all on the Beta Testers! If they want to make up for it, well, they should just hand over all their gear right now!"

"Now hold on just a minute." A dark skinned mountain of a man spoke up, "Just to be clear, you're blaming the deaths of those players on Beta Testers because they didn't help? And you want them to repay everyone by giving up their stuff."  
"That's right, so?"  
The man pointed at the book that Diavel held in his hand, "You can get those for free, and I heard everyone saying they read it."  
"What's your point?" Kibaou glared.  
"That guidebook was written by Beta Testers, everyone could get their hands on these, even in the Town of Beginnings. But people still died. I'm not here to blame anyone, I'm here to fight my way out of here. And you all should be too."

Some of the murmuring that Kibaou's outburst had caused began to quiet down. Kibaou twitched, if this wasn't Virtual Reality Trance would have sworn he could see a vein bulging on his forehead, he looked as if he was ready to attack the man, or dive into the crowd and attack people indiscriminately until the Beta Testers unveiled themselves.  
Ultimately he decided that fighting the man or every player in the amphitheater would end poorly for him, and he sat down, grumbling.

Diavel clapped his hands enthusiastically,  
"Thank you Mister uh… I don't think I got your name?"  
"Agil, the name's Agil." The man said.  
"Right, well, thank you Mister Agil for diffusing that situation, the guide tells us that we should split into groups of around 6 people, the group composition should be divided between balanced and specialized, it advises us to have at least 3 groups of DPS players for frontline battle and 3 groups of shield users to draw the agro of the mobs that Illfang spawns. Now remember guys, team composition is important, but what's most important is that you trust the people in your group."

Trance watched as people scrambled to find groups, next to him, Kirito asked, "Do you want to find some more people for a group?"  
Trance shook his head "Nah, let them come to us if they want, besides, the two of us could probably take the boss on by ourselves."  
"Arrogance like that can get you killed, and unlike the Beta there's no coming back if you do."  
The man, Agil, had walked up to him,  
"Sorry if I'm wrong but you're Beta Tester's, aren't you?"  
Kirito stiffened again. Trance merely looked up, considering his choice of actions, he chose to grin,  
"SAO Doesn't have a telepathy skill, so how did you know?" he said, trying to ignore Kirito kicking at his shin.  
"Well, when Kibaou was going on his tirade, everyone looked angry or like they had enough of that guy, you two just looked worried."  
"I see," Trance replied, "Thank you for standing up for us, but how can we help you?"  
"Well, can I join your group?" Agil asked, "After seeing how eager everyone was to go after Beta Testers I don't really want to join any of their groups."  
"I don't see how another blade could hurt," Trance said, continuing to ignore Kirito tapping on his leg with his foot. "Welcome aboard, Agil."  
"Excuse us for one moment." Kirito said as he pulled Trance away."  
"What?" Trance asked. Brow furrowed in visible confusion.  
"What the hell are you thinking? We don't even know what kind of person he is!"  
"He was willing to stand up for us, that's all I need to know."  
Kirito sighed, "Well as long as we don't invite any more strangers-" He trailed off as his eyes were drawn to a hooded figure sitting alone, he made his way over to the figure and spoke to it, after a while he came back over to Trance,  
"Um, yeah, she's called Asuna and she'll be joining our Group." He coughed.  
"What's this about not inviting people we don't know?" Trance asked, quirking an eyebrow.  
"Shut up." Kirito said.

"Alright everyone! Listen up!" Diavel said, "We'll review our strategy closer to the day of the raid, our next meeting will be in two weeks' time, use your time to level and find strong gear, until the next meeting, dismissed!"

"You want to go grind out some levels?" Trance asked Kirito.  
"Sure, I know a spot near town."  
"What about you, Agil? You want to join us?"  
"Sure thing, we've got to see how we work as a team, after all."  
Kirito turned to Asuna, "Would you like to join us too? Like Agil said, we need to see how we work as a team."  
Asuna merely nodded.  
Trance coughed once to break the awkward silence Asuna's response left, "Well that settles it, let's head out!"

 ** _AN:  
_** _Welcome to my SAO Fanfic, for some context on what I hope to achieve, I'm trying to overhaul EVERYTHING, characters, interactions, story elements, lore (Cuz Aincrad has none, and all MMORPG's Need lore). Basically, I hope to make Kirito less of a Gary Stu, make 'minor characters' like Klein more fleshed out. And to basically make a divisive Light Novel/Anime into something a little bit better. Might be arrogant of me but oh well. Please leave a comment on what you liked, didn't like or what I could improve._


	2. Small Adjustments

The silvery blade of the enemy cleaved an arc through the air towards Trance, flicking his blade out to deflect the blade, he took a step backwards. The enemy, a humanoid lizard wearing light leather armour, took the opportunity to advance. Trance grinned. He kept backing up, then shouted  
"Agil! Switch!"  
Agil darted into striking range, his axe glowing with the power of the Sword Skill _Whirlwind,_ the crushing blow of the axe blew the enemy away, as the last of its HP drained away it burst into multiple crystalline polygons.  
"All right!" Trance cheered as he glanced at the pop-up window, detailing the drops obtained from the fallen adversary, "And with that we have enough drops to turn the quest in!".  
He began jogging off in the direction of the quest giver, humming a tune from an old RPG.  
Agil turned to Kirito.  
"So that guy, is he always that energetic?"  
"More or less," Kirito sighed, "It's exhausting following him around."  
"Man, I'd give anything to be that upbeat in SAO."

Turning in the quest items and completing the quest, all four party members closed the window displaying the amount of EXP and Col they had received from completion.

Suddenly, Trance turned around. "Alright! We got this Rapier as a quest reward! Who wants it?"  
He held up the rapier, it was simple, unadorned, yet elegant. He looked around at both Agil and Kirito, and grinned.  
"You'd look like an idiot waving this around" he said to Agil, then turned to Kirito. "And as for you, well, I never saw you as being interested in Rapiers even during the Beta."

"That only leaves-"He turned to the hooded girl, Asuna. "You". He held out the Rapier to her, expectantly.  
Asuna seemed reluctant to take it. "I can't accept that, besides, my sword here is good enough"  
She made a motion underneath her cloak, Trance could only assume she placed her hand on her sword.  
Realizing that her motion would be unseen by the others, Asuna bristled and looked away.  
"Ah come on, no-one else is going to take this sword, besides, I've seen you use some Sword Skills, you'd do well with a Rapier."  
"Yeah," Kirito chimed in, "And you put in as much effort as any of us, you've earned that Rapier just as much as Trance or Agil or I have!"  
Asuna was silent for a while, then, slowly, she nodded.  
"Okay"  
Trance sent her a trade request, which she promptly accepted. Holding the blade in her hands, she traced her fingers along the hilt of the rapier.  
"Thank you." She said, bowing at the same time.  
"No need to be so formal!" Trance laughed, "We're both in the same boat, we need to look out for each other if we're going to beat SAO."  
"Speak for yourself." Kirito snorted, "I could probably take the Floor One boss by myself."  
"We aren't going to take that risk though" Agil said firmly, "There's too much at stake, even one unnecessary death is too much."  
"I wasn't saying I was going to!" Kirito exclaimed sheepishly, "I was just saying that I could!"  
"Kirito? Shut up." Trance said, raising a hand to placate the swordsman. "We need to talk though, with this last quest I think we're strong enough to take on the floor boss with the others. So now we need to think about our gear and curatives."  
"I know a blacksmith that's 5 levels higher in his Smithing skill than any other blacksmith I've met, he could take a look at our gear" Agil said.  
"And I know a general store that players don't visit often, I'm guessing their stocks will still be high." Trance murmured. "Well, that works out fine then! Kirito, you can go with Agil to get our gear improved and Asuna and I will go and stock up on healing potions and potions that remove status effects."

They separated, promising to meet up at the inn they were staying at once they were done with their errands. Trance lead Asuna through winding alleys to a beaten down store that looked as if it received very few customers.  
"What is this place?" Asuna asked as they looked around the store.  
"One of the benefits of exploration." Trance replied, "As far as I can tell there are at least 2 'secret' locations per town. I found this place during the Beta, so when I got to this town I came back to see if was still there. Obviously it is but it was a little… different."  
"What do you mean?"  
"Well, they sold some rarer stuff, but everything was a little bit more expensive, the store wasn't as run down in the Beta as well."  
"What's so bad about that?" Asuna asked as she confirmed the purchase of the potions.  
"Nothing, but it does make me concerned about what might be different from the beta. I'm worried we might be relying too much on the information gathered during the Beta and I'm not sure if it's reliable." Trance replied as they walked out of the store, "Yeah, the differences between the store during the Beta and now aren't that significant but what about any traps the Beta testers have found? Or attack patterns and weaknesses of enemies! I need to look into this, otherwise people might get-"  
Trance was cut off as he bumped into a girl who was walking in a group down the alley.  
Catching himself, he grabbed the girl before she crashed to the floor, "Are you okay?" he asked.  
"Yes," she stuttered, "I'm sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going."  
"No need to apologize," he said, then squinted at the group, "Hey, you guys aren't part of the Floor Raid team, are you?"  
One of the guys, presumably the leader, stepped up. "Not yet, we're trying to grind until we can compete with all the others on the front lines."  
Trance grinned, amused and somewhat inspired by the leader's optimism, "Well let me help you out, down the alley, if you make a left turn and continue on for a bit, you'll find an item shop that not many people visit, from what I can see they sell some rare stuff there too."  
The leader took a mental note and said "Thanks, we'll check it out."  
"Alright, well it's time we got back to Kirito and Agil, let's go Asuna," Trance turned to the group, "Well, maybe I'll see you guys on the front line sometime." He said as he waved goodbye.  
"Thank you again!" the girl called out.  
"You better believe we'll meet on the front lines!" the group leader called out as Trance walked further away. "Someday everyone will talk about the Moonlit Black Cats!"

***  
A/N: Well hope you enjoyed this new chapter, just to address some things that may come up.  
A) Yes, this is going to be a semi AU, I'm changing some things around for the sake of narrative flow and making a better story.  
B) No, my OC Trance isn't going to end up with Asuna, but his friendship with her does end up being important to the plot.  
C) I intend to give characters the screentime they deserve. Meaning that Klein, Agil, Lisbeth, Silica, etc. everyone that should be a Main character but isn't will be receiving a boost to supporting protagonist.  
D) I will be changing around who meets who, which is what I've been trying to do with the introduction of Trance, this way after the first floor boss, (After which Trance will disappear from the story for a while), I can split which Protagonist meets which characters, therefore Klein and Silica will be introduced to Trance through Kirito where Lisbeth and a few other characters who may or may not be OC's (there will be a mix between OC's and Canon Characters) will be introduced to Kirito through Trance. Through this I hope to split up the Harem a little bit and give every character some time to develop as well as some unique interactions with the protagonist they meet first.  
E) Will try and flesh out Asuna and Kirito's romance arc. Nuff said, going to flesh it out at least enough so that it isn't quite as jarring.  
And apart from that, well... I apologize for the slow burn, I promise I'll get to the boss fight soon!


	3. Illfang: The Kobold Lord

The next week was spent out on the field, despite feeling confident that they were at a high enough level to take on the boss Trance suggested that they spend some time improving the synergy of the group.  
As that went by the date of the raid approached rapidly. They gathered at the entrance of the dungeon, as they waited for the others to arrive, Trance noticed that Kirito seemed distracted.  
"What's up?" Trance asked.  
"Nothing, I just got a message from Argo saying that the guy who was offering to buy my sword doubled his offer."  
"What's wrong with that?" Trance furrowed his brow.  
"Nothing, usually. But I already told him I wasn't interested in selling it, but he keeps offering more and more."  
Trance tapped his chin, pensively, "Well, it's not like Anneal Blades are a unique item, so it can't be because of that, and if you didn't put a market listing out then the offer had to have come from someone who saw that you had it…"  
Kirito sighed, "I don't know, it doesn't matter anyway, we need to focus on the raid, we'll deal with this afterwards."  
Trance nodded, still in thought.  
"Hey! Kirito!" A loud, friendly sounding voice snapped them both out of their pondering, Kirito looked up at the source of the voice.  
"Klein?" Kirito asked, taken aback, "What are you doing on the front lines?"

The red-haired swordsman grinned, "Aw c'mon! The Fuurinkazan Guild ain't gonna sit back and let everyone else risk their necks! We may not be the strongest guild but we have each other's backs in battle!"

"Well it's nice to know that I'll have you watching our backs." Kirito smiled softly as the two men shook hands. Trance, watching this exchange, coughed, Kirito looked at him in surprise.

"Oh, right, Trance, this is Klein, a guy I helped back during the launch of SAO, Klein, this is Trance, an old friend from the…" Kirito trailed off as he glanced warily at Kibaou and his group.

"Oh right, I got you, you don't need to say any more." Klein nodded, understanding. "What's his big problem with beta testers anyway?" he whispered, motioning towards Kibaou.

"Who knows." Kirito shrugged.

"Well, it's a pleasure to meet you, Klein" Trance grinned and extended his hand.  
"Right back at you, buddy!"

"Alright everyone, looks like we're all here!" Diavels voice called out. "Can I trust that everyone's stocked up on potions and crystals?"

His question was met with affirmation, to which Diavel sighed in relief. "Good, well, I think it's time we made for the boss room."

Every step the large group made towards the boss room only heightened the anxiety building within each player. Eventually the tension in the air was so thick Trance could have sworn he was tripping over it.

They stopped outside of the boss room. Diavel turned and faced the group,  
"Alright, I'm not going to lie, this fight will be intense and gruelling, but when we defeat this boss, we'll be one step closer to conquering Aincrad!" he shouted as he pumped his fist in the air. This clearly energized the group as shortly after the air was filled with cheering and fist pumping.

"Kinda optimistic, don't you think?" Kirito asked.  
"In a time like this? We all could use some optimism." Trance replied.

"Okay everyone, you know your groups and you know your roles. When we get in, the assault squad will beeline towards the boss, flanking it. While this is happening the shield squad will spread themselves out and draw the aggro from the boss' minions. And finally the support squad will lend their aid to the players who are struggling the most. Everyone going to remember this?" Diavel asked. Again, he was met with nods and affirmation.  
"Alright, let's do this!" Diavel pushed the door open with a shout, the whole group charged in to the empty boss room.

After a moment a large shape dove down from the ceiling, causing the very room to shake upon impact. The boss, Illfang, glared at the group, but didn't attack. The message was obvious.  
"It's luring us in," Kirito said. "It's waiting for one of us to make the first move…"  
"Hey, Ki?" Trance called Kirito by the nickname he had used in the beta. "You remember that really old internet meme from like 20 years ago?"

"What are you- Oh no." Kirito said, realisation dawning.

"Should I do it?"

"Don't" Kirito sighed,

"I'm gonna do it."

"Do not." Kirito sighed again, resigned to the fact that Trance would, in fact, do what he wanted.

With a cry mimicking the old meme, Trance ploughed into Illfang.

To Kirito's left, he heard Asuna whisper "Idiot." And saw her charge after him, to his left he heard Agil's laughter as the big man hoisted his axe and followed suit. As the shock and confusion wore off from the other members of the group they all began to move into their positions and roles.

Kirito sighed again, "I hate him," he murmured to himself, "I hate him so much." And, sword drawn, charged into battle.

Trance spun his sword, his blade glowing with the power of the Two Handed Sword Skill, Cyclone. The impact of the strike brought Illfang down on one knee. Asuna darted forward, placing herself between Illfang and Trance, who was still recovering from the Post-Motion paralysis that using Skills caused.  
Agil brought the axe down upon Illfang's unprotected back, causing the boss to roar in fury, swinging its axe towards Trance and Asuna, still in paralysis, Trance was tackled away by Asuna, the axe flying wildly above both their heads.  
"Thanks for the save" Trance said.  
"Get your head in the game!" Asuna shouted as she jumped back up to rejoin the battle.

She darted forward, her rapier imbued with the power of the skill Linear. Trance whistled in appreciation of her speed, even using a low power sword skill Trance could barely see her moving, and her attack had lowered Illfangs health into his final bar.

"Alright, Switch out! I'll take him on!" Diavel charged forward, shield held in front to guard against the talwar's fast slashes.

Illfang glared at Diavel and roared. Flinging his axe away, he pulled out a long, curved sword.

"That's not a Talwar, it's a Nodachi!" Trance said, eyes wide in shock.

"Shit! Diavel! Get out of there!" Kirito shouted,

"I have this handled!" Diavel said as he sidestepped a strike and lunged forward, sword aglow.

Illfang roared again and swung his fist, knocking Diavel back and pushing his health down to half the original bar.

 _Not good!_ Trance thought, he broke out into a sprint, there was still time! There was still a chance he could reach Diavel before he got killed!

Diavel raised his shield once more and got into a ready stance, waiting for Illfang to approach to striking distance, unfortunately the Nodachi's added length allowed Illfang to swing beyond that range, his huge blade crashed into Diavel's shield, carving into the swordsman's body and sending him flying.

Trance stopped mid sprint, some of the others were attempting to reach him, but Illfang had begun spawning more and more minions, within minutes the whole raid team would be swarmed.

"Ki! Go to Diavel! We'll hold them off!" Trance shouted, without waiting for a response he turned to the groups closest to him,  
"You lot! With me! We're going to make that bastard pay!" he roared.  
Behind him, he could hear Agil's powerful voice cry out, "Alright you guys! Let's take these punks out!"

Flanked by other members of the raid team, mainly shield bearers, Trance carved through the sentinels blocking him from reaching Illfang, the demon roared and swung his nodachi, which was met by the shields of half the accompanying group.  
The shield-bearers grit their teeth as they strained against the demon's blade. Trance swung his blade, the power of Cascade biting into Illfang's shoulder. Roaring in pain once more, the demon abandoned his assault on the shield users and turned his attention to Trance.  
He saw a flash as the hooded girl, Asuna, impaled the demon. The demon, attempting to bat her away, caught only the fabric of her cloak. Asuna darted backwards, abandoning her cloak, Trance took the chance and ran forward, he struck Illfang with the pommel of his sword, doing little but drawing its attention to him once more.

"Trance! Switch out!" he heard Kirito's call from behind him, he dove to the right, clearing the path for Kirito's strike. With a wordless scream he barrelled into Illfang.

"What about Diavel?" He called out to Kirito, his silence told Trance everything. Gritting his teeth in frustration, he called out to Asuna.  
"Can you back him up?" he asked, Asuna nodded silently.  
He turned to face the army of minions conjured by the Kobold Lord, he ran towards the rest of the raid team, cutting down sentinels left and right, as he tried to draw them away from the team he pushed the sinking feeling that the raid team seemed smaller than it should.

One of the sentinel's blades bit into his back, roaring, he swung his sword with the power of Cyclone, slaying every sentinel within 3 feet of him.  
Trance looked around him and sighed, he was surrounded.  
"Hey!" a path was cut through the sentinels, revealing Agil, axe at the ready, "Need a hand?" Agil asked?

"We'll need more than that," Trance said, "as long as the boss is still alive these guys will keep on coming."

Trance and Agil faced the hoard back to back, Trance looked back at the rest of the raid team, he sighed in relief as they had fallen back to heal.

The duo struck, Agil sending multiple sentinels flying with each swing of the axe, Trance shifted his tactic, targeting the strongest sentinel with precise strokes and only using wide cuts to keep the hoard at bay.

An axe flew under Trance's guard, digging into his side and driving him to his knees, _Damn it!_ He grunted, dropping to the floor and rolling to avoid the blades of the enemies that had advanced.

"I've got you!" Klein shouted, barrelling passed Trance and cleaving the enemies who had approached.  
"Alright, Dale! Issin! Take over here!" Klein barked as he grabbed Trance, hoisting his arm over Klein's shoulder, as the Kobold Sentinels were distracted by others, Klein guided Trance to where the other players were healing their wounded.

"Let go!" Trance said, "I have to back them up!"  
"Hey! Listen to me!" Klein shouted, shaking Trance slightly, "If you take another hit, you're _dead_! And I'd sooner die before I let a friend kill himself like that god damn it!"  
Trance pounded his fist on the ground in frustration, then sighed.

"You're right." He admitted, Klein's angry face softened,  
"Listen, you stay here and heal up, I'll back those two up, got it?" he said, Trance nodded silently.

Satisfied with Trance's response, Klein readied his katana and charged, carving a path through the Kobold Sentinels he sprinted to Kirito's side, with a nod the three charged at the boss once more. Every strike the boss attempted to make was met with an attack from Klein or Asuna, the impacts stunning him and throwing him off balance, after which Kirito would unleash a flurry of strikes and stabs that would push the boss further back. Eventually, the Kobold Lord roared weakly and exploded into blue sparks.

Golden letters appeared above where Illfang the Kobold Lord had been, spelling out 'Victory!'. In front of every member of the raid team a pop-up had appeared, detailing the experience points, Col and loot that they had acquired from the battle. Trance closed his window and made his way over to Kirito.

Patting Kirito on the back, he faced Klein and said, "I'm sorry about before, I was reckless."  
Klein, at first taken aback, grinned, "No worries, we all get a little reckless in battle!"  
Trance sat down on the ground and yawned, "Man I am _beat_!" he said,  
"Tell me about it." Klein said as he looked around at the rejoicing raid team, obviously glad to be alive.  
"How many didn't make it?" Asuna asked, her brow furrowed in concern and hesitation.  
Kirito studied the room, "Ten people, including Diavel." He said, grimacing.  
Trance frowned at Kirito, silently asking him for an explanation.  
Kirito shook his head, almost imperceptible, though the message was clear. _Not right now, I'll tell you later._

"Stop celebrating!" a voice shouted from amidst the crowd. Trance looked over and sighed, _Kibaou, of course._

Kibaou pointed at Kirito accusingly, "How could you let them all die?!"

 _A/N:  
_ Writing combat is really not my forte, so if you thought the fight scenes were crap then I apologize.  
The story should pick up speed after the next chapter.


	4. Beater

"How could you let them all die?" Kibaou shouted at Kirito, enraged.  
"Hey man, back off" one of the other players put a hand on Kibaou's chest, placatingly,  
"Yeah, he was the one who killed the boss, he saved the rest of us." Another player piped up.  
"He didn't save shit!" Kibaou roared, "Did you see the way he fought? He knew every move the boss was about to make."  
"But that means…" the first player said, realisation dawning on him,  
"He's a Beta Tester!" Kibaou said, scowling at Kirito.  
"You bastard!" a voice from the crowd called out,  
"All Beta Testers are scum!" another voice shouted.  
"Hey, I bet there are other Beta Testers in here! You guys have thirty seconds to drop all your gear and surrender!"

Trance glanced at Kirito, his fists clenched, he moved to draw his sword.  
Kirito's eyes darkened, the intention was clear. _Don't, let me deal with this._

He walked towards the staircase, to the teleportation gate that led to the newly unlocked Second Floor, as he passed through the crowds of angry players, he began to laugh.  
Softly at first, it cut through the jeering and silenced the mob.  
"You're calling me a Beta Tester?" he asked, smirking.

In an instant, the smile faded, Kirito drew his blade and held it to Kibaou's throat,  
"Don't you _ever_ lump me in with those idiots again." He growled.  
"W-What?" Kibaou said, keeping as still as a rock.  
"Those 'Beta Testers' you think are so much better off than you? They're beneath me, nothing more than an inconvenience for me to step over, and if they're an inconvenience, what do you think that makes you?"  
"You…" Kibaou hissed, regaining some of his fire.  
"I knew what the boss was going to do, and I kept it from you, because you'll only slow me down!" Kirito announced to the crowd. "In this world, those who are strong rule supreme. Why would I ever share this strength with any of _you_?"  
The silence hung in the air, then broke all at once.  
"You're not just a Beta Tester… You're a god damn cheater too!"  
"You bastard! You think you're better than us?"

Trance watched as the cries of 'Beta Tester' and 'Cheater' Merged into a single slur, 'Beater'.  
"Beater, honestly. A five year old could come up with a better name, right now it sounds like he's about to beat his-" Trance noticed Asuna was staring at Kirito,  
"He doesn't mean it." Trance said, "He was trying to deflect blame-"  
"I know what he's doing." Asuna said, "And I know he didn't mean it, I know he isn't that kind of person."  
Klein puffed his chest out, "Of course he isn't!" he exclaimed, "Kirito may not be a people person but he's not an asshole!"

Trance sighed as he saw Kirito vanish, teleporting to the next floor.  
"We better go before this group turns on each other…" he said distastefully as the group started throwing anything they could find at where Kirito had been. "Like a pack of wild animals…"  
Agil stored his axe in his inventory, and said "Well, I might scout ahead, I want to see if I can set up a shop or something."  
"I'm gonna head back to town, I promised my guys we'd go out for dinner if we survived." Klein said, then looked at Trance and Asuna "You two wanna come with?".  
Trance held his hands up in front of him, "I'll pass, there's something on this floor I need to see, then I'm going to go up to Floor Two as well." He said.  
"Alright, well, Asuna?"  
"Sure, I'm not doing anything." She said, smiling softly.

As they began to go their separate ways, Trance pulled Asuna aside.  
"Hey, there's something I want to tell you before we part." He said,  
"What is it?"  
"Klein and his friends… They're good people, and they trust each other with their lives. I can tell. In this world, you can go far if you're powerful, but it's always good to have people who have your back. So I want you to promise me, if ever the day comes where Klein or anybody else invites you to join a guild, that you'll accept it." Trance said, looking Asuna straight in the eyes.  
"I will, thanks, Trance. Keep in touch, yeah?" she said, smiling.  
He smiled back and began to leave, before he left the area completely, he heard Klein call out,  
"Trance!"  
He turned back and looked at Klein, who was jogging towards him.  
"What's up?" he asked.  
"I know Kirito has a tendency to disappear for a long time, and that he's not good with people, but I know he's a good person deep down, so if you come across him before me, I want you to let him know that the both of you are welcome in the Fuurinkazan Guild." He said.  
Trance raised an eyebrow, "Is that an invitation?"  
"An _open_ invitation," Klein corrected, "Whenever you're ready, if ever you're ready, let me know."  
"I'll let him know, thanks." Trance said, then the two men shook hands and parted ways.  
 _Many will say that friendships forged on the battlefield are unhealthy, ugly. Maybe.  
But I see beauty in bonds that have been tempered by the flames of war, and quenched in the tears of loss._

 _This, I will never forget._

 _A/N_

Short Chapter this time, wrapping up Floor One and kicking off the first of the many big changes.  
I hope you're enjoying this story so far, if you have any suggestions for which direction this fic should take I'd love to hear them, shoot me a PM or leave a review, either works.  
Now, I'm off to write Kirito's time with the Moonlit Black Cats, Should I kill them off or let them live... I'll toss a coin.  
 _*Le Coin Toss*  
_ Hmm, interesting...


	5. The Black Cats of the Full Moon

"To the Moonlit Black Cats!"  
The Inn was full of cheer, even Kirito, despite himself, couldn't help but smile.  
"And to Kirito!" The leader of the guild, Keita, raised his goblet again, beaming from ear to ear.  
"To Kirito!" The rest of the guild followed suit.  
"Guys, really, it was nothing." Kirito said sheepishly, they were the centre of attention at the inn.  
"Nothing? Are you kidding me? I thought those monsters were going to kill us!" another guild member, Ducker, said.  
"Yeah! We would have been toast if you hadn't showed up!" a purple garbed player, Tetsuo, chimed in.  
Kirito's attention was drawn to the only girl in the guild, she seemed uncomfortable, toying with her tunic.  
"Are you okay?" Kirito inquired.  
"Oh, yes!" the girl stammered, snapping out of her contemplation.  
"Sachi here is our damage dealer, but we've been trying to switch her into a forward role." Keita said, patting her on the head affectionately.  
Kirito sat in silence for a small while, then asked, "Sachi, can I see your stats?"  
"Of course!" Sachi tapped a few options in her menu, then, with a swipe of her hand, sent the open window towards Kirito.

Kirito examined the character sheet, Sachi was 23 levels below him, her boon stats were in Speed and Skill, her dump stats were in Strength and Constitution.  
"Keita." Kirito said, "Sachi's dump stats are Strength and Constitution, her character is geared towards a high DPS build that specializes in critical hits. When you give her a sword and shield you're going to be slowing her down."

Keita nodded thoughtfully, "I didn't know that. I'm sorry, my decision put Sachi in danger." He said, balling up his fists.

"Hey, it's alright, you made a mistake but now you've learned." Kirito said, "But incidentally, is this your first time playing an MMO?"

"Yeah, that obvious, huh?" Keita said, smiling bitterly, "We were never too interested in games before SAO, but one day, after our exams, I said we should play this game, that it would be fun. I was an idiot."

The whole guild spoke up at once,  
"You aren't an idiot!"  
"This isn't your fault, it's that bastard Kayaba!"  
"Don't you dare blame yourself for this!"

Kirito stared at the group, the sense of camaraderie that emanated off the Moonlit Black Cats sent waves of nostalgia over him.

 _"I'm sorry guys, I screwed up."  
Kirito said as he slumped down on the bench.  
"It's no big deal, we can always try again." Another Beta Tester, Ziro, said, smiling reassuringly.  
"But our loss let the other raid group surpass us, and we're still stuck on Floor Four." Kirito said through gritted teeth.  
"I mean, it's not like the floors we clear will carry over after the Beta, it really is not a big deal!" Heiwa said.  
"But-"  
"But nothing," Trance said, sitting down next to Kirito, "You got reckless, you made a mistake but now you learned from it. That's what matters most, with what you've learned we can try again tomorrow, or the day after that, or the day after that." He said as he patted Kirito on the shoulder.  
"Try not to be too hard on yourself, Ki."_

"Kirito? Did you hear what I said?" Keita asked, brows furrowed in slight concern.  
"Oh, sorry, I dozed off for a minute." Kirito said, snapping out of his contemplation.  
"I was asking if maybe you wanted to join our guild, if it's not too big of a deal."  
"I'm honoured, but… why?" Kirito said.  
"Well… the truth is we're trying to be a frontline guild, but none of us are strong enough yet, And… Well, we need some more people we can trust, and all of us trust you."  
The guild nodded in agreement.

"I…" He stared at the guild, all of their hopeful faces beamed back at him, the way Sachi smiled, with closed eyes and a tilted head, reminded him of… Sugu.  
"You don't have to stay forever, just enough to put us on the right path." Keita said.  
"I will."

The Tainted Wolf howled and struck, biting in to Tetsuo's shield, a strike from his mace sent the beast reeling, dazed.

"Sachi! Go!" Kirito shouted, moving in to position.  
Sachi ran forward, spear in hand, her stab drove the wolf back further, the wolf launched itself at Sachi, teeth gnashing.  
The wolf's jaws were blocked by Keita's staff, with a heave the wolf was pushed back.  
Tetsuo advanced, placing himself between Sachi and the wolf.  
"Ducker! NOW!" Kirito said, launching himself at the wolf, with a kick he drew the beast's attention towards him.  
"Come to papa!" Ducker grunted as he darted forward from the shadows, throwing knives that dug into the beast's hindquarters, as an attack from behind the knives themselves caused twice as much damage as they would normally have and staggered the wolf. Keita's darted forward, cleaving a red line down the beast's left hand side.  
"I've got it!" Sachi said as she ran out and thrust her spear in front of her.  
With a shower of sparks the Wolf vanished.  
"Nice one Sachi!" Kirito said.  
Keita patted Sachi on the head again, then looked closely at her drop list.  
"What's that?" he asked, pointing to an object in the list.  
Tapping menu brought the item into being.  
A silver glaive with blue highlights dropped into Sachi's waiting hands.  
"Crescent Fury?" Sachi recited.  
Kirito strode over towards her, "Can I take a look?"  
Taking the blade from Sachi and examining it, he observed the effects.  
 _Light, benefits from high Dexterity and with a low Strength requirement._ Kirito mused to himself, scratching the back of his head.  
"You should use it, Sachi." Kirito held the glaive out to her.  
"Why?" Sachi stammered, looking slightly intimidated by the elegant weapon.  
"It benefits from speed and it has a lot of range, so you can deal a lot of damage without having to get too close to the enemy."  
"Okay, if you're sure."  
As Sachi grasped the glaive and tested out the balance, Kirito couldn't help remember the time he and Trance had done something similar with handing Asuna the rapier, in both cases, after the initial reluctance had passed both girls allowed their happiness to seep through. However, Sachi was expectedly more expressive in her joy than Asuna.  
Kirito shook his head, snapping back to consciousness, why was he thinking about Asuna _now_?  
"Alright everyone, I think we've made some good progress today!" Keita announced, then he glanced at Kirito, "Kirito, do you think we've done enough to break for the day?"  
Kirito nodded, smiling. With these guys he wasn't the dirty beater who caused the deaths of ten people, here he was just Kirito, the above average swordsman.

It felt good.

Later that night, they returned to the inn, as the sun of Aincrad cast its last rays upon the roofs of Taft the confines of the inn were filled with laughter and cheer once more.  
Ducker entertained the guilds with jokes and bad puns, Kirito grinned into his mug, once more Sachi seemed quieter than usual.  
As the laughter died down and the noise that filled the inn quietened to a soft hum Kirito beckoned Sachi to follow him out to the hallway.  
"What's wrong?" Sachi asked  
"You sure you're okay?"  
Sachi stuttered, hands playing with the hem of her tunic.  
"No… not really." She said, bowing her head in shame.  
"Wanna talk about it?" he asked.  
"I'm…" Sachi struggled with her words, "I'm scared." Her shoulders slumped, defeated.  
Kirito waited for Sachi to continue.  
"I don't want to die here." Sachi said, trembling slightly, "I don't want to die without telling my parents how much I love them, I want to see the sky again, I…"  
Kirito heard the _drip_ of moisture hitting the ground, Sachi was crying. Sword Art Online simulated tears in response to specific brain activity, it was nothing more than a tacked on feature, but Kirito knew this was different, the fear in her voice, her tears, they were all real. He moved forward and embraced her.  
"I'm scared too." He admitted.  
Sachi looked up at him, surprise evident in her teary eyes.  
"You are?"  
"Yeah," Kirito sighed then continued, "My parents died when I was a baby, I was adopted by my aunt and uncle and thought my cousin was my sister. But then one day I found out the truth… Ever since I knew what happened to my parents I pushed my sister away." He laughed bitterly, "and I'm terrified that I'll die before I set things right, and earn the right to be called her brother again, until recently, I was scared that I might actually die alone in some random dungeon, and that I'd never get to tell my sister what I want to say."  
Sachi was silent, merely tightening her grip on Kirito.  
"And that's why I'm telling you this," Kirito said, putting some distance between him and Sachi and looking her in the eyes, "Because you're not alone. You have your friends and me, and we're not about to let you die."  
They stood in near silence for a while, the only sound being the muffled laughter from the main room and the occasional sniffle that Sachi let out.  
"You ready to go now?" Kirito whispered to Sachi, who nodded in response.

They both walked back to the main room in better spirits, Kirito whispered a joke to Sachi, making her laugh. Laughing himself, he barely noticed that Sachi had intertwined her fingers with his.

 _A/N:  
Yeah, going to flesh out the Moonlit Black Cats arc, this is going to happen with most side stories._


	6. Conflicted

p class="MsoNormal"The days passed quickly, Kirito watched as the Moonlit Black Cats grew in strength, placing their miniscule guild amongst the many mid-tier guilds that assisted in the clearing / The guild activities also split up, no longer was Kirito required to escort the whole guild into the wild to train them, teams of two were all that were required for a successful / Ducker and Keita went out to look for treasure in dungeons, Tetsuo and Sasamaru took on high reward quests to raise funds to support the front liners and an orphanage that was set up in the town of beginnings. And Kirito and Sachi spent their time taking on powerful enemies, looking for strong items to share with their comrades./p  
p class="MsoNormal"One night Keita had approached the group with a smile on his / "Hey guys!" he said, "How about we head down to the lake tomorrow? We could take a load off and swim or fish!" br / "You mean like a picnic?" Sachi / "Yeah!"br / The rest of the guild murmured their approval of the plan, but Keita glanced at Kirito, seemingly seeking his / "Yeah, sounds good. Everyone's made amazing progress so I think we all deserve some time off." Kirito said, smiling / The guild cheered in excitement, their energetic cries echoing off the walls of the inn once more./p  
p class="MsoNormal"The next day the guild set out to the lake that Keita had described, the path was mostly clear of mobs, what few enemies that did engage were swiftly cut down by the seasoned / They made small-talk along the way, Tetsuo and Sasamaru talked about the orphanage, and how the lady who ran the orphanage, Sasha, had told them that if any guild member ever needed assistance that they need only ask. Kirito and Sachi listened, without contributing; they strayed near the back, Sachi's hand clutched Kirito's. Kirito was the only one that Sachi confided her fears to, and in turn, Sachi was the only one Kirito completely opened up to./p  
p class="MsoNormal"When they arrived at the lake the sun was high in the sky, its radiant white light illuminating the crisp blue water, Keita unpacked the sandwiches, apples and cheese they had purchased from the innkeeper. Kirito stared at his reflection in the shallow end of the water, soft ripples disturbing the otherwise calm surface of the water./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Kirito! Catch!" Keita called out as he tossed him two glass bottles, Kirito caught them swiftly. Passing one to Sachi, he pulled the crystalline stopper and took a swig of the sparkling / He let the delicate flavours flow across his tongue, the drink was a specialty on Floor 12, despite the healing effects being too weak to be viable as a potion it had gained a following due to its soothing taste, almost akin to iced peach tea, complemented with lemon and a small pinch of cinnamon. Beside him, he heard Sachi sighing as she drank./p  
p class="MsoNormal"They joked, laughing at Ducker's antics and groaning at his bad puns./p  
p class="MsoNormal"For a while all that existed were the lake and the Moonlit Black Cats. He closed his eyes, letting the sound of the water gently slapping against the shore please his ears. The taste of the drink lingering on his tongue./p  
p class="MsoNormal"He focused on the sound of Sachi's voice, her laughter. His hands tingled at the touch of her fingers. br / And just like that, the rest of the Black Cats melted away, leaving only Sachi and him on the lakeside, without any stress of the Death Game placed on their shoulders./p  
p class="MsoNormal"As the sun descended, casting red rays that warmed Kirito to his figurative bones, they began to walk back to the town./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Alright everyone!" Keita said, excited as ever. "That was a good break, we'll keep pushing forward and levelling starting tomorrow. So get a good night's rest and let's do this!"/p  
p class="MsoNormal"Settling into their tavern rooms, Kirito lay down on his bed./p  
p class="MsoNormal"Suddenly there was a knock on the door./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Uh…" Sachi's voice called from the hallway. "Can I come in?"/p  
p class="MsoNormal"Kirito opened his eyes. A window had opened in front of / em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"User: Sachi#97039 has requested access. /embr / Pressing "Allow", he got up and stared as the door opened, letting Sachi enter. br / Smiling, he asked, "What's up?".br / "Can I stay here for a while?" Sachi seemed to shrink at the / "Uh, sure!" Kirito said, shifting further upright./p  
p class="MsoNormal"They sat for a while in total silence. Kirito battled internally, whether to tell the truth about his true level and his status as a Beater./p  
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Do I want to risk losing everything? No, I can't, I don't want to lose their trust. But… /em/p  
p class="MsoNormal"He looked over to Sachi, knees tucked under her / em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"But lying to her… Lying to her might be worse./em/p  
p class="MsoNormal"Turning to Sachi, he began to / "Listen-"br / "It's about your level, isn't it?" Sachi cut in, Kirito bristled, then / "Yeah…" he sighed, "How long have you known?" br / "For a while now." Sachi shifted closer to Kirito. "What level are you actually? 30? 35?"br / Kirito grit his teeth, there was a stone forming in his stomach, "47."/p  
p class="MsoNormal"The silence in the room was almost tangible, it was thick and cold, then Sachi spoke / "But… how did you hide it? Even if all your stats were private, you should have been killing everything in one hit!" Sachi asked, Kirito could sense genuine curiosity in her words, though they were tinged with something… more…br / "Use a really low levelled sword, I just switch it out before combat ends." Kirito said, "You wouldn't believe the things you don't notice when your adrenaline is pumping."br / "I see…"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanSachi fidgeted with her blouse / Kirito sighed, "I'm… I'm sorry I lied." He said, "Tomorrow I'll tell Keita the truth and I'll be gone. I should never have put you guys in danger like that."br / There was a sudden movement as Sachi lunged forward and grabbed both of Kirito's hands. br / "No!" she said, a tinge of desperation entering her voice, "You don't have to! I… I was really impressed at how strong you were and how good you were at this game. I admire how confident you are that we'll all get out of this together and I look up to you because you've taught us how to be stronger but… but…"br / Sachi sighed, stilling her breath, then she / "But I realized it was more than that… I realized that… I like having you around, Kirito… I like em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"you/em."/p  
p class="MsoNormal"Kirito felt a chill, as if his blood had frozen solid. Then all of a sudden, the chill was replaced by a heat, starting in his core and spreading. Sachi appeared to be in a similar state, her eyes widened with shock and horror as she realized the implications of what she had just / "Ah!" she recoiled, letting go of Kirito's hands, "I-I mean… I didn't… What I meant to say was…"br / Her words trailed off as Kirito shifted closer to / "Are you serious?" his voice seemed higher pitched, nervous. br / "Y-yeah…" Sachi looked down to her hands, entwined with each / "I…" Kirito internally cursed his sudden lack of eloquence, "I don't think I'm ready yet…"br / Sachi seemed to shrink, "O-oh…" br / "But… I'll stay." Kirito said, "I'll stay with the Black Cats, with you."br / Sachi perked up almost immediately, "R-really?!"br / "Yeah, if the others still want me after they find out about my level."br / "They will, I know they will!" Sachi said, leaping to her / Kirito chuckled, "I wish I could share your optimism. But I think we both could use the rest."br / "Okay, goodnight!" Sachi said, leaving the room with a wider smile than Kirito had seen from her all / "G'night!" he called back, then turned to flop onto his bed, his smile disappearing as a battle raged internally./p  
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"This is a good thing, right?/em/p  
p class="MsoNormal"He closed his eyes, trying to push everything out of his mind./p  
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"So why… /em/p  
p class="MsoNormal"In the darkness, he saw a flash of Chestnut hair./p  
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Why…/em/p  
p class="MsoNormal"Asuna's smile cut through the dark, entering his thoughts for the first time in weeks./p  
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Why am I so conflicted?/em/p 


End file.
